Effective Shift Handover

In the refining industry, control room and field operators document their daily activities using shift logs. These logs are supposed to be an important part of the shift handover process and are the mechanism by which activities are coordinated across shifts. Previous research identified the need for a more structured approach to shift handover. However, the value of a structured approach has never been demonstrated experimentally. We report here on an experiment sponsored by the Abnormal Situation Management Consortium conducted at the ENGEN Refinery that compared the quality of shift handovers using a structured checklist-integrated logbook to a more traditional less structured logging approach. The results showed that significant benefits to situation awareness derive from the more structured approach.